This article from the Economist highlights a bold lawsuit that has been filed in New Jersey, calling on the courts to mandate vouchers. Here's hoping it succeeds! After 34 years of mandating ever-increasing funding -- New Jersey has the 10 cities with the highest per-pupil spending in the country -- with absolutely nothing to show for it, maybe -- just maybe (though I'm not holding my breath) -- the courts might embrace empowering parents, not bureaucracies, politicians and union bosses, to make educational decisions for children. What a novel idea!

IN THE gruelling battle over how to improve America's schools, no reform faces greater resistance than school vouchers—the idea that parents should have a portable chunk of money to spend on their child's education at any school they want.

Teachers' unions and their allies are adept at quashing voucher bills whenever they come before state legislatures. They argue that public schools will be undermined if parents can use taxpayers' money to send their children elsewhere. If by miracle a voucher bill does get passed into law, it is almost always challenged. For instance, Utah has just become the first state to approve a universal voucher programme, but opponents have organised a statewide referendum to scrap it.

Now some supporters of school vouchers, frustrated with state legislators, are testing a new tactic: going to court. Last July a group of parents in New Jersey filed a lawsuit against the state and 25 poorly performing districts. In Crawford v Davy they are arguing that since public schools deny students their constitutional right to a proper education, the court should refund their money so they can spend it at any school they choose. This is not the first attempt to use courts to permit the use of vouchers: similar efforts failed in Illinois and California, for example. But in New Jersey, such a suit might actually succeed. New Jersey's courts have no qualms about meddling in education—they have been doing so for decades.

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Pro-choice

Jun 7th 2007 | NEW YORK
From The Economist print edition

http://www.economist.com/world/na/displaystory.cfm?story_id=9308137

New Jersey has become the new front in the fight for school vouchers

IN THE gruelling battle over how to improve America's schools, no reform faces greater resistance than school vouchers—the idea that parents should have a portable chunk of money to spend on their child's education at any school they want.